Powerboat Racing World

The British Powerboat Racing Club (BPRC) has today issued Advance Programmes and Entry Forms for its Cowes Torquay Cowes and Cowes Poole Cowes races to be held on September 4th. The longest running offshore racing event in the World is now into its 56th year. The contest was the brainchild of the newspaper tycoon and second world war fighter pilot Sir Max Aitken, who had seen the Miami-Nassau Powerboat Race that began in 1956. At the time, powerboat racing was a perfect fit with America’s affluent profile. It was spectacular, and offered upwardly mobile enthusiasts an opportunity to compete on level terms with their old-money counterparts. At the London Boat Show in January 1961, Sir Max proposed that a similar race should be staged in England between Cowes and Torbay. The concept gripped the public’s imagination, and there was huge…

The Guernsey Powerboat Association (GPA) have today issued their 2016 race calendar. 10 races will be run over 5 weekends to determine the Guernsey Club Class Champions in the Stanley Gibbons Investments sponsored series. Over the weekend of July 23rd – 24th the club will welcome crews from the mainland who will compete in two rounds of the RYA British National Championship. The GPA goes into its third year after a successful ‘reboot’ in 2014 which included hosting the UM 3A and 3B World Championships.

2016 Australian V8 Superboat Championships Allcott Hire Park, Lake Centenary, Temora, NSW 21 April, 2016 A strong field of title contenders will converge on Allcott Hire Park at Lake Centenary in Temora on April 23, for the second round of the 2016 Australian V8 Superboats Championship for an ANZAC Memorial race, which will also feature the first round of the Colin Parish Memorial Trophy. Three-time Australian Unlimited Superboat champion Phonsy Mullan leads the field, the Victorian looking for back-to-back wins in the 2016 championship after dominating the opening round at Griffith over the Easter weekend, although it took the RAMJET Racing driver two boats to finish the job after his legendary twin-turbo powered machine suffered a rare mechanical failure during qualifying. Fortunately we had our 500ci V8 powered machine at the circuit so we just switched over some drive parts…

Jo Foxx went through extensive ThunderCat training to enable her to race in 2016 and she made her racing début last weekend at Bournemouth. 35 year old Jo, originally from Poland, now lives and works in London, plying her trade as a fitness manager at the Surrey Docks Watersports Centre. Jo has completed several Marathons and Triathlons and was the 2015 ‘Supreme Galaxy Girls Champion’. Tim Tapping and I met the ‘New Star’ in ThunderCat Racing last Friday, we wished her the best of luck and monitored her progress throughout the Fortitudo Property supported weekend. I thought it would be good to have a ‘catch up’ with Jo today and ask her a few questions about her first event. JM: You were slightly concerned about your first race in the ‘Galaxy Girls’ ThunderCat boat, how was it when you got…

David Finlayson and Mike Littler thrilled the crowds at Bournemouth last weekend after they ejected from their ThunderCat during the Fortitudo Property supported event. David a proud Scott, said afterwards, It’s lucky I wasn’t wearing my kilt – The spectators on the beach would have got a real show! Thanks to Mike Powell for the photo sequence.

Rounds one and two of the 2016 UK ThunderCat Racing Championship were settled in Bournemouth today. The event was supported by Offshore Racer, Ricard Carr’s Fortitudo Property company. Carr told me, It is great to see so many competitors and spectators at the event this early in the season. I’m really pleased to support this event and am encouraged to the see the passion of the competitors. The final heats of the M-Shape discipline were run with over night leader Bligh Julius holding on to his advantage. I split my best prop yesterday and was in a dilemma of what to use today. Dave Harwood of Steel developments told me that it was the perfect opportunity to test other propellers today. It ended up with Team Multispark M-Shape One – Two, Gary Tolman and Scott Brown took an extremely well earned silver, considering…

• Attempt to beat current record by more than a week • Team Britannia will showcase best of UK’s marine industry • Boat will be powered by fuel emulsion that will significantly cut pollution British ocean racing legend Alan Priddy will this week re-launch a multi-million pound round the world record bid in a revolutionary semi-wave slicing powerboat run on a fuel emulsion that slashes harmful emissions. Mr Priddy hopes to shave up to seven days off the current record of 60 days 23 hours 49 minutes, held by New Zealander Pete Bethune. The boat has been designed by Professor Bob Cripps, former Technical Director of VT Halmatic. It will slice through the waves, rather than surfing them, with its super-efficient design, a variant of the “fast displacement hull”. This reduces fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent and…

Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi put the finishing touches to a perfect weekend’s racing with victory in the Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run in Dubai on Saturday. Competing in the second round of the 2016 UIM XCAT World Powerboating Series, the Victory Team duo had already claimed top honours in the race for Emaar Pole Position and then also in the Dubai GP on Friday. So the Speed Cat Run victory completed their clean sweep of the weekend’s events and saw them extending their lead at the top of the overall Series standings after victory at the Fujairah GP last weekend as well. Al Zaffain and Bin Hendi now have a 31-point lead over the Swecat Racing team of Erik Stark and Mikael Bengtsson who are second while the Dubai 33 pair of Salem Al Adidi and…